Reaction: Fort Worth to host AAC Basketball Championships in 2020-2022
In an announcement that came as a surprise to many, the American Athletic Conference has awarded its future basketball championships to Fort Worth, a city without an American member school.
The 2020, 2021 and 2022 conference championships will be played at the new Dickies Arena, near the historic Will Rogers Memorial Center. The new arena is scheduled to open in 2019 and will seat 14,000.
Dickies Arena has already been selected to host the first and second rounds of the 2022 NCAA Tournament as well as the 2020-2022 NCAA gymnastics championships.
AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a press release that the move was made to bring the tournament into a "state-of-the-art facility" in a "sports-minded community that embraces major events." Fort Worth is most certainly that -- the city hosted many of the NCAA events held prior to the College Football Playoff in AT&T Stadium.
So, why not Dallas?
There's not a good spot for it. Moody Coliseum is way too small, the American Airlines Center poses numerous scheduling challenges (and might already be booked), and the Kay Bailey Hutchison arena is extremely dated.
Dickies Arena will be a great fit, mainly because of its proximity to other American schools. SMU or a combination of SMU and Houston will play host to the event, even if unofficially.
The conference tournament has previously been held in Memphis, Orlando and Hartford. Each venue has provided its own challenges.
Coaxing fans from all over the nation to travel to Florida (or Hartford when there's still snow on the ground) just doesn't sell. Memphis seems centrally located, but again, only Tigers fans showed up en masse -- being sort of close to East Carolina made little difference.
In Fort Worth, the conference tournament will now be within driving distance of six AAC schools (SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, Wichita State, Memphis). There's the added benefit of DFW airport providing direct access from just about anywhere. Sure, Fort Worth may not be "centrally located," but does put more fans in close proximity than Florida or Connecticut ever could.
Orlando will still host the tournament in 2018, as will Memphis for 2019.
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